Alone
by Klondike Aura
Summary: Moments alone and the many ways to be alone. Rating changed because I ended up getting a little darker than I meant to go.
1. Fakir

"_I'll find you in each dream I dream with every longing sigh. I'll count the hours that we're apart for here am I..."_

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Hurt has many ways.

Even though his life has been short so far, even though he had already outlived what he was supposed to know, Fakir knew about the many ways to hurt and be hurt.

But this was a new kind of hurt to him. Surprisingly new.

The self-inflicted stab wound in his right hand dully throbbed, begging for attention. It barely registered to Fakir, only edging into his consciousness when his fingers grasped into Duck's uniform jacket.

He couldn't say anything else to her now, not even to explain the sudden embrace. Any attempt at words was consumed by a stone weighing down his insides. He was only glad that she returned his hold.

And after too short a time, he let her go, leaving him in a wake of anti-relief.

There was still too much to do and his realizations would have to wait until he could finish writing.

Hurt has many ways.

Few are worse than being alone by being with someone.

* * *

Author's Notes: This is the first in a small series of drabbles inspired by, of all things, a song from the Marx Brothers movie _A Night at the Opera_. The quote at the beginning of each is a lyric from the song. Styles and settings will vary from drabble to drabble, the theme being the only link between them.


	2. Ebine

Alone

_Alone when you whisper, "Goodbye, my love..."_

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Cold.

It was the coldest kitchen in the coldest summer Ebine ever knew. No fire could thaw the frost, no coat could warm the chill. Even the knives and metal cookware gleamed like ice, icebergs and glaciers on the snowy white counters.

Everything outside was green with sweltering life, but it didn't touch the pristine kitchen or the woman huddled in a corner inside.

She rubbed at her red eyes with the heel of her palm, though she knew the act was useless. The tears had already left their trails and there were more to come. She buried her face in her apron-clad knees.

The only warmth in the entire room came from Ebine's ears, which burned with the merciless heat of an open flesh wound as they remembered that final breath and last blessed yet accursed whisper.

It's amazing how much damning warmth is in that cold, lonely word, "Goodbye."


	3. Duck

"_But I will still remember the happiness we've known. And though I may be alone, I'm not..."_

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Duck sometimes misses being a girl.

Sure, being a duck is plenty easy. All you really need is a pond and you're pretty much set for life. Being human is more complicated, with homes and society and goals and everything else that humans decide to put on themselves.

But she will give them this: they had something special on their hands when they came up with dancing.

It's been a while, she doesn't know how long. Long enough to get used to having webbed feet and wings all the time. But she hasn't forgotten. She _won't_ forget.

She can hear it in her ears, though there is no orchestra. She is still clumsy on land yet being in her true form provides a grace that her human self lacked. She's so caught up in her prologue that she doesn't notice when someone joins her. The soft chuckle from her audience goes unheeded.

It is a funny thought, the duck playing the role of the girl.

Duck is suitably surprised when she's suddenly scooped up. She quacks and briefly wriggles before she catches the scent and sight of the blue school jacket and the tip of her wing brushes over a familiar scar on the hand holding her.

"Moron," Fakir murmurs. "You got to the part when Rothbart shows up. What did you expect me to do?"

She gives him a look that plainly says, '_Well, you sure can't be Siegfried_.'

"And you're no Odette," he answers her.

Her feathers ruffle at that. But when he remains still, she quacks at him to get on with it before they miss their cue.

Fakir then moves with false roughness, miming his half of the struggle while Duck 'attempts' to get away. When the transformation is complete, she flutters back down to the ground and finishes her part of the prologue.

"Rats, it didn't work," her partner half-jokes.

She rolls her eyes at him. And when it's apparent that he's done dancing for now, she hops into the pond.

"You would have us go through the entire ballet, wouldn't you?" Fakir asks, taking his spot on the dock, picking up the quill and parchment he had set down before joining her.

Duck quacks, unsure if she would go that far but knowing that them dancing a bit more together would have been nice.

"A two-dancer production of Swan Lake," he muses. "That truly is a featherbrained idea."

Duck huffs and takes off from the water. Right before she lands, she turns a peculiar pirouette on the surface of the pond, her wing angled so she sends a spray of water up to Fakir.

Satisfied with his sogginess, she continues her solo performance where he can't follow.


	4. Edel

"_And in these magic moments, I'll have you for my own..."_

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Businesses usually don't like it when their merchandise sits on the shelves with no buyers. But since Edel's business isn't really selling jewelry, anything that is sold is just extra.

Though, if Edel had to assign any feeling to it, sales were not something she liked.

She sat beneath a tree, her barrel organ silent as she looked over her wares. She scooped them up in her hand and lets them cascade through her fingertips. One remains in her palm: hers. Artistic license. The Author's Bypass.

The only time she can really notice it is when it's alone in her hand.

She tilts her hand and lets it drop with the others. It fits in seamlessly, no matter how she might move or place it in the box. She can't focus and see it the way she can when it's separate. Another cog to keep the gears running smoothly.

But a cog can't work by itself.


	5. Mr Cat

Alone

"_Alone with a sky of romance above. Alone. Alone on a night that was meant for love..."_

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Another night of tossing and turning. It was no use. Mr. Cat couldn't sleep.

He stretched, his body fluid as he decides he might as well get on with his day, whatever hour it happened to be. Just watching the sky go from darkest black dotted with stars to a warmer, inviting blue was more progressive than further attempts at slumber.

So he looked out the window, tail twitching with impatience his sleep-deprived mind didn't fully comprehend.

His home was still, full of the silence of pre-day. No creature or machine marred the peace. And perhaps that was why he couldn't sleep.

No other rhythm of breathing. No wordless mouth-noises that still made perfect sense. No rustle of unconsciously fighting over the duvet. No creak of another weight sitting up and tossing legs over the side of the bed and the following patter of footsteps to begin the day first.

Mr. Cat idly groomed his whiskers.

At least here, though, there was no show. No outlandish proposals. No need or urge to perform in what even he knew was a silly attempt to sate his sincere desire.

The sky really was beautiful at this hour. How many others were up at this time? Maybe he should set his alarm clock earlier... No. That would take away what this moment is.

Because maybe, he thinks. Maybe someone else couldn't sleep. And maybe someone else is looking at this sky.

And maybe she's alone, too.


	6. Mytho

"_There must be someone waiting who feels the way I do. Whoever you are, are you? Are you...?"_

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Mytho doesn't want to go to the library.

But only because he doesn't want. There is nothing else he would rather do than go to the library, either.

He does need to write an essay for class. (Is that something he truly _needs_? He doesn't know.) It is expected of him and he usually does what is expected of him.

"I'm going to the library," he informs Fakir.

His roommate (friend?) turns a not-quite glare at him, silently asking why he would go through the trouble. But Fakir does eventually nod, acknowledging and reluctantly granting permission.

Mytho knows where the hesitation comes from here. It happens whenever he might get in proximity of _The Prince and the Raven_. But it's pointless. They both know the story. Mytho knows it as well as he can know anything.

(Can he know anything?)

Once the creak of the library door fades away, the ocean of silence envelopes him. The smells of parchment, pungent inks, and collections of dust await at every turn.

There is only one other person, another boy who turns his glasses towards Mytho. The glasses are met with a blank stare before the danseur moves on.

He finds himself in the reference section. (Is this where he needed to be? Probably.) A heavy dictionary is open on the table before him. This is a place to start. He closes the book and opens it from the beginning.

_aardvark_

_abdomen_

_accent_

_adjunct_

_affair_

_agate_

He puts his fingers to the page and reads the word softly to himself.

"_Alone_..."

Having no one else present. On one's own. Without others' help or participation. Single-handed. Lone. Single. Lonely. Lonesome. Sole. Solitary.

The book says it means so many things.

"_Alone_," he says again.

"What are you doing?" Fakir asks, annoyed. "You've been here for hours."

"Fakir," Mytho responds, his fingers still on the thin pages in front of him.

"Are you just standing here reading the dictionary?"

Mytho is used to that sound in Fakir's voice. It usually comes up if Fakir is about to call someone an idiot or a moron.

"You don't read it cover to cover, idiot," Fakir grumbles. "You look up the words you don't know."

"The words don't mean," Mytho states.

The other boy looks at him, a frown forming and his eyebrows furrowing.

"Of course they have meanings," Fakir retorts. "Come on, let's go."

"It doesn't make much sense," Mytho thinks to himself as Fakir drags him out of the library. "But maybe this is another way to be alone..."


	7. Rue

"_And when you come I'll promise to be your very own... Alone. Alone with a heart meant for you..."_

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

Her footfalls echo in the auditorium. Ballet seems like such a quiet sport unless one either practices it or has had the pleasure of having a close seat during a performance.

Rue thunders across the stage before leaping, arms outstretched as she took flight. It was the only thing she could fully accept from her heritage as the Raven's daughter.

The stage was her true domain. The audience, when present, her subjects. But she doesn't dance for them.

She pirouettes, a steady rhythm of scrape-thump with each precise turn of her toes and landing of her foot. Rue practically skips across the stage, a stone on a ripple-less pond. The only motion in the room is hers.

She needs the movement, needs the noise. She'll be ready soon for the silence, the silence that is so much like who isn't there. But she needs to prepare herself.

Rue isn't foolish, her hands out in front with one softly curved over the other. She is not here to practice. She knows perfection will not bring her love. But she doesn't dance for herself.

She moves into an arabesque, her spine arching impossibly backwards over her extended leg. It's here that she feels exposed, her every nuance on display. As if her very soul is being projected. She is neither timid nor proud in this moment.

And in her mind, she sees a pair of golden eyes.

Rue holds the pose. For moments. For eternity. For as long as she can see those eyes. Eyes that observe but do not lust, do not ravish. Eyes that do not admire or chastely adore, though she sometimes secretly wishes that they did. Eyes that accept, that will always accept. And as long as those eyes are on her, she is unafraid. Nothing can penetrate this moment.

"Mytho..."

She's not sure if she whispers his name or merely thinks it. But with the breath that brings his name, she finally allows herself to go slack.

And she knows in every aching muscle, with every tremble of her heart, that she couldn't dance for anyone else.

She dances for Mytho alone.


	8. Princess Tutu

Alone

"_As long as I find you in every dream and know I'll see you each night in the starlight gleam..."_

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

"I..."

Tutu could feel the Raven's eyes on her, gleaming with wicked mirth.

"Prince Siegfried, you mustn't be so reckless," she says as the prince and his knight look at the princess who stopped them just moments before.

"You're one to talk," the knight snorts. "Following us here when you don't even know how to fight. Foolish girl."

"Lohengrin!" Siegfried admonishes his knight. "But he is right, Tutu. You should take leave of this place and go to safety."

The princess shakes her head even as the prince softly touches her cheek.

"It wouldn't be fair if something were to happen and I never said..." she begins again.

Lohengrin's eyes widen with realization and he steps in at her hesitation: "You little fool! You know what will happen if you do this!"

"Let her speak, Lohengrin," Siegfried says.

"You don't know what's about to happen!" the knight protests. "What she's about to do!"

"Pay him no heed, Tutu," the prince assures the princess.

But she shakes her head again and tells Siegfried, "He's only trying to protect me. But he should know that this is something I must do, something only I can choose to do. And if I'm not being honest with myself, then I've chosen wrong."

Lohengrin gives her a hard look, attempting to mask the concern in his eyes.

Tutu tilts her head downward, letting Siegfried's fingers gently cup her chin. She can feel the tears welling behind her eyelids and perhaps even a couple fall. But she is smiling.

Now is the moment of truth.

She tilts her head back upward again and looks into the prince's eyes.

"I love you."

And Siegfried smiles, his hand moving to caress Tutu's cheek, unaware that the tips of her fingers and toes were gradually glowing into brilliant light before fading into nothingness.

The knight recoils in horror and cries out, "TUTU!"

This is what alerts the prince to his princess's vanishing. He takes a step back but doesn't take his hand away from her cheek even as her arms and midsection begin to disappear, the glow gaining speed.

And with one final exhale, Tutu is completely gone.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hello all! I'm going in a bit of a different direction with these drabbles now. I've been playing around with ideas of the characters in _The Prince and the Raven_, so here's some of what I've thought up. I've also been running out of song lyrics, so I'll only keep that up as long as it'll work out. XD;


	9. Lohengrin

Alone

"_Alone with your kiss that could make me care..."_

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

She's gone. Another one gone. The resulting emptiness coldly courses through Lohengrin's veins, overpowering to the point that he has to get down on one knee. Not for the first time, he feels useless.

A distant shriek of his name comes unbidden to his mind and he absently rubs at his left hand.

"Lohengrin," Siegfried finally says, stirring the knight from his thoughts.

"My liege," he responds.

"You knew this would happen?"

Lohengrin subtly nods.

"And she knew?"

"She confided in me," the knight admits. "She didn't want you to worry and didn't think it my responsibility to tell you what was in her heart."

The prince turns to face his knight, his expression grim.

"Thank you for respecting her wishes."

Lohengrin laughs hollowly and says, "It's all I seem to be good for now."

"Lies, my friend," Siegfried says, though not with much more pleasure. "We can prove ourselves true to her words now by the sword."

The knight stands once again. The prince is right. And letting the Monstrous Raven have his satisfaction would be a poor way to pay back Tutu for her honesty.

"Allow me to carve the path to your victory, my liege," Lohengrin says, facing their foe.

The warmth comes back as he moves to strike the Raven, something akin to a confident smirk on his face. Yes, battle is where Lohengrin is most at home. There is no fear here, even if it should mean his doom.

But if Siegfried didn't know his knight as well as he did, the prince would almost swear that Lohengrin is afraid in that brief moment before the Monstrous Raven's claw makes contact with his shoulder.

The last things that flicker through Lohengrin's mind as the claw sinks into his wavering heart are two names, a lady lost long ago and the princess who disappeared mere moments before.

The knight is left alone in his uncertainty of who he wants waiting for him on the other side.

* * *

Author's Notes: Unlike the other drabbles, this is a direct continuation of the Princess Tutu entry. The next entry (and possibly the one after that) will also continue this particular story.

We see a lot of Tutu and a good portion of Siegfried in the anime but the knight, presumably named Lohengrin as the knight's sword is called the Sword of Lohengrin, doesn't really get much story. In this, Lohengrin gets a history based on the opera of the same name, which ends with the knight leaving to fulfill his duty serving King Arthur and his wife falling to the ground dead.


	10. Prince Siegfried

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

"Take all the time you need," the Raven graciously says to the prince.

Siegfried doesn't even look back as he gently closes Lohengrin's eyes and folds his arms over his bloodied chest. He can't entirely keep quiet as he carefully pushes the cleaved parts back together the way they're supposed to go. He couldn't leave his friend without doing at least that. It was all he _could_ do for now; mourning will have to come later.

He stands again, sword at the ready, to face his foe.

It is how it was meant to be. The Prince and the Raven.

The Raven bows his head and says, "Please."

"Enough pleasantries," Siegfried retorts, tired of his false kindness.

The prince isn't sure how long the fight lasts, only that he is stuck in a frustrating stalemate. The Raven will not yield to his sword and the prince is able to evade his strikes.

But not forever.

Siegfried stops and catches his breath.

"Growing tired?"

The prince smiles and says, "Does the Monstrous Raven think himself tedious? I'm shocked."

"You can't fight me forever, prince."

No, he can't. And the more they draw out this stalemate, the greater the chances it will eventually change in the Raven's favor. But there is something he can do.

It was dangerous, certainly. And it wouldn't work forever. But it would mean time and even a measure of freedom.

"You're right," Siegfried agrees. "But I _can_ hold you back."

And he turns the tip of his sword to his own chest.

The first is nigh-unbearable sorrow, the mourning he wouldn't allow himself to indulge in before. It hurts more than the sword itself as he sees Lohengrin slain and Tutu vanishing. He cries out at this and not the physical pain. Next is intoxicating love and joy, the bliss of Tutu's confession. What follows is anticipation, the foreboding that came before the encounter. Each moment he ever held floods out, his memories and emotions bleeding through the gaping wound in his chest.

His heart leaves him piece by piece, taking those precious to him with it until he is fully and truly alone.


	11. The Raven

Alone

A Princess Tutu fanfic by Klondike Aura

"Is this what your victory looks like, Prince?"

The Monstrous Raven looks around at the edges of his cage, the red shards incoherently whispering to themselves. He didn't much care for this part, as it was the only place of his now-confined domain that let in any sort of painful light. But it also showed him what had become of the prince.

Some victory. The empty husk of the prince lay apparently dead in the street. And if he does die, his heart will eventually fade and the Raven will be free once again.

Was it worth it, Siegfried?

"Hey!"

Drat.

Many were content walking past the prince without even a second glance. Why couldn't this boy and his father?

No, not father. The Raven remembers this boy. The one who foolishly thought he alone could stop his crows. Even the knight knew better than to think he would be enough for the Raven. This child stood even less chance than the knight, whom he remembers rending as though he were merely a scrap of cloth standing between him and the prince.

He retreats back into his darkness as the man and boy take the prince with them. But he doesn't get far when he hears a high-pitched shriek. The lovely sound bids him to turn to the light again.

Ah yes. This girl taken by his crows, arms above her head as they flock around her. What delightful sorrow her parents had provided him since her abduction. And now, the wheels in his head turning with schemes, what perfect bait.

The Monstrous Raven chortles in his solitude.

The one in the cage will be the one to lay the trap.

* * *

Author's Notes: And here's the bridge between _The Prince and the Raven _and the world of Gold Crown. Likely the last of the continuous story sort of drabbles.


End file.
